Tidjane Thiam vows acceleration on Credit Suisse performance

Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam has hailed a “good start” to the final year of the restructuring he is overseeing at the bank, which he said will see an “acceleration” in the group’s performance.

The bank announced results for the three months to March 31 on Wednesday, reporting pre-tax profits of CHF1.1bn ($1.2bn), up 57% on a year earlier, on revenues that nudged up at CHF5.6bn and falling expenses. This pre-tax profit was the highest in 11 quarters, the bank said.

In February, Credit Suisse announced its third annual loss in a row, after taking a hit from new tax rules implemented by US President Donald Trump.

In his statement on the first quarter results today, Thiam reiterated the group’s focus during its three-year restructuring on growing its wealth management and investment banking businesses while scaling back — or “right-sizing”, as the CEO put it — its sales and trading activities.

Thiam, who became CEO in 2015, said at a conference in March that he was grateful the bank had decided to scale back the markets business, adding then that he expected revenues to be flat but that this was “nothing to be alarmed about”.

Credit Suisse’s investment banking and capital markets business reported a 13% fall in revenues, at CHF528m, and a sharp drop in profits from CHF149m a year ago to CHF59m in the start of 2018. Equity underwriting revenues were flat, while advisory fees and debt underwriting revenues both fell.

The group’s wealth management business posted revenues of CHF1.4bn, up from CHF1.2bn, and rising profits.

Thiam said the team now expects “periods of heightened volatility given ongoing geopolitical events, news flow around global trade negotiations and the outcome of monetary policy tightening”, which could affect the markets business. He added that the group “remains confident” of the wealth management and investment banking units.

Correction: This article was updated to reflect the flat performance in Credit Suisse's equities sales and trading business

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